October 10, 2012

It’s been revealed that UVERWORLD will be providing the theme song for the upcoming anime film, ‘Ao no Exorcist‘ (December 28th release).

‘Ao no Exorcist’ is a popular manga by Kato Kazue that’s been serialized in ‘Jump Square‘ since 2009. UVERWORLD has provided the opening theme song for the TV anime series’ 1st season which started airing in April of 2011.

The title and release date of the theme song haven’t been revealed at this time because it’s still under production. TAKUYA∞ commented, “UVERWORLD is made up of members that we gathered in our hometown, so we’re old friends from before forming the band. There’s a link between ‘Ao no Exorcist’ and how we move forward with irreplaceable friends. We are currently producing a song that will find its way in the movie’s story.”

Visual kei band SuG will be going on hiatus after their one-man live on December 29th. The band will also be removed from their agency PS COMPANY.

Through his official blog, Takeru (Vo) explained, “The reason is very simple. To continue our activities in this situation, we will be betraying everyone who has been involved with us as well as our history. ‘We are here now because we aren’t ashamed of the past’, we feel that’s the only way for us to shine. In order for us to challenge ourselves to things that we feel is cool from the bottom of our hearts, we decided to halt our activities.”

Regarding their withdrawal from PS COMPANY, he revealed, “It’s not that we had a disagreement, neither were we dismissed. I just feel that our directions started to shift little by little. If we hadn’t met PS COMPANY, we wouldn’t be here now. That is why we decided not to avoid this vague relationship, and faced the result of withdrawal.”

SuG will kick off their nationwide tour, ‘SuG TOUR 2012: sweeToxic‘, on October 10th. They will go into hiatus after their one-man live, ‘SuG Oneman Show 2012: This is O‘, on December 29th at Yoyogi National Gymnasium.

According to the Oricon Singles charts for October 8, the "Kuroko no Basuke Character Song Duet Series Vol. 3" single released on September 26 sold 24,886 copies in five days to rank at #3 for the week's CD single sales.

The single features songs and a mini drama from characters Shintarō Midorima (voiced by Daisuke Ono) and Kazunari Takao (voiced by Tatsuhisa Suzuki). This is the first character song single for the series that has ranked in the top three on Oricon's chart.

Shueishareleased the 19th volume of Tadatoshi Fujimaki's original Kuroko no Basuke sports manga last month. Production I.G's television anime adaptation of the series ended on September 22 and the series will receive an original video anime included with the eighth Blu-ray Disc/DVD volume of the television anime series in February.

Model/singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu announced on Saturday that she is singing the new theme song for the Crayon Shin-chan television anime. The announcement came during the TV Asahi Dream Festival 2012 event at Tokyo's Yoyogi National Gymnasium. This is her first anime theme song.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is a self-described huge Crayon Shin-chan fan who has all of the original manga volumes and catches the anime films as they come out. As Kyary Pamyu Pamyu appeared onstage at Saturday's event, Crayon Shin-chan's title character Shinosuke (or rather, a costumed performer) made a surprise entrance to express his excitement over the news.

Music producer and DJ Yasutaka Nakata (One Piece Film Z, Five Numbers!) wrote and scored the new "Kimi ni 100 Percent" song, and Shinosuke is contributing by shouting during the song's interludes. The song will begin airing in the anime on October 19.

The Mainichi Shimbun paper's Mantan Web posted more photographs from the announcement.

Sanrio announced a line of mascot-inspired sofas on Friday. The company is offering three designs including their most popular character, Hello Kitty, as well as My Melody and Purin.

Hello Kitty and My Melody both retail for 198,000 yen (about US$2,520) with an additional charge of 3,150 yen (US$40) for shipping, while Purin is priced at 178,500 yen (US$2,270). Each piece of furniture is individually handmade by artisans in the Shizuoka prefecture.